VANCOUVER, British Columbia – UFC president Dana White did not get a chance to confer with former light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell, as he said he would, after Saturday’s UFC 115 event. Instead, Liddell went straight to the hospital after Rich Franklin (26-5 MMA, 13-4 UFC) knocked him out cold.

White said Thursday that if Liddell (21-8 MMA, 16-7 UFC) went unconscious again, the two would come to the same conclusion: it’s time to hang it up.

“Yeah, and I hope he agreed tonight,” the UFC president said at the post-event press conference when asked if Liddell’s career is over. “I don’t think he won’t.”

Liddell showed up on Saturday in the best shape of his career and gave Franklin a serious fight for much of the first round of the UFC 115 headliner. At several points, he landed punches that have ended many fighter’s nights.

But in trademark fashion, Liddell charged in and overcommitted to a big punch when he thought he had the former middleweight champion on the ropes. Franklin weathered the storm and landed a short right hand that caught Liddell’s chin and sent him to the canvas – out cold.

White again praised Liddell’s efforts to take a comeback seriously and said he doesn’t regret granting the fighter a chance to come out of retirement.

“This is what he wanted,” White said. “I did what I felt I should do. He said, ‘Listen, I want this; I’m going to take it serious,’ and he did. What else could I say? The guy was healthy. He’s seen the doctors, he’s passed his (medicals).”

The two argued over a comeback this past summer when Liddell sustained his third knockout loss since 2007 in a UFC 97 bout with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in April 2009. White publicly retired Liddell after the event, but Liddell earned another fight when he agreed to forgo the party scene, train seriously, and appear on “The Ultimate Fighter 11.”

Liddell was supposed to face Tito Ortiz in Saturday’s headliner, but Ortiz injured his neck and was replaced by Franklin.

White said he expected Liddell to go after Franklin with big shots and look for the knockout, so a knockout loss was a possibility.

“I don’t think there was any secret in anyone’s mind – including Rich Franklin and his camp – what Chuck’s gameplan was going to be tonight,” White said. “Chuck fights the same way. He has a style that made him very popular (and) very famous and made him a world champion.

“At 40 years old, you don’t go in with a different gameplan and do different things.”

The UFC president said the question of whether age had withered Liddell’s chin was answered against Franklin.

“I’ll be the first one to say (that) he does not have the chin he used to have,” White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “I’ve been around fighters my whole life; you could have hit Chuck in a face with that pole over there, and you wouldn’t knock him out. If you look at some of his earlier fights and some of the shots that he used to get hit with, (they) would have knocked any other fighter out.

“He had an incredible chin, and listen – we all turn 40. We all get old. Michael Jordan was the greatest basketball (player). It happens to everybody.”

Still, the UFC president said it was tough to see his friend get knocked out for the fourth time in six fights. He spoke of their longstanding relationship and said the two often traveled together for weeks at a time to promote the company in Zuffa, LLC’s early days. Prior to that, he managed Liddell when the fighter’s payouts were $2,500 a fight.

White said Liddell was part of Zuffa brass’ vision to make the UFC a brand with global reach.

“He actually lived inside that window,” White said. “I have not one sad feeling in my body at all. We did it, and he’ll always be a part of it.

“He gave it his last shot, and he went out like Chuck Liddell would: came out blasting, bombing, tried to put Rich away, and he gave the fans a good last fight with the ‘Iceman.'”

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